Kutztown University President F. Javier Cevallos to leave in June

Dr. F. Javier Cevallos, president of Kutztown University. Cevallos is planning to leave his post at Kutztown to become the new president of Framingham State University in Massachusetts. He plans to remain at Kutztown until June.

Dr. F. Javier Cevallos, Kutztown University president, will leave the position he's held for 12 years at the end of the current school year.

"Earlier today, I accepted an offer to become the 16th president of Framingham State University in Massachusetts," Cevallos said Tuesday in a message to Kutztown's staff and students. "My new assignment begins in July, allowing me to remain at Kutztown through June."

Cevallos issued the statement from Boston, where he met Tuesday morning with the Massachusetts Board of Education.

The board voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Framingham board of trustees, which endorsed Cevallos for the position at its Jan. 7 meeting.

He is the longest-serving president among the 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

In assuming the administrative helm at Framingham, Cevallos returns to deep academic roots in New England. Before coming to Kutztown in 2002, he held academic positions in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

"While it's going to be difficult to leave Kutztown, I'm excited about accepting the position at Framingham," Cevallos said. "I spent two decades in Massachusetts before coming to Kutztown, and still have many friends there."

Cevallos, 56, guided the transformation of Kutztown to a campus that embraces diversity and draws students from 20 states and foreign countries.

When he was hired in 2002, minorities comprised 6 percent of the student body. Currently, minorities account for 19 percent of Kutztown's 9,500 students.

"I am proud of a vision that includes recruiting a student body that reflects the diverse world we live in," Cevallos said. "We continue to work with school districts to make college a reality for many more young men and women."

Kutztown's enrollment, however, has dropped 12 percent from its peak of 10,700 in 2010 - twice the average decline at the 13 other schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

"We have reduced the number of adjunct faculty and increased the number of tenure track positions," he said. "You can't build a strong university without a committed faculty."

Cevallos cited Kutztown's Small Business Development Center and the Latino Entrepreneurship Center as initiatives that employ academic expertise to create jobs locally.

Founded by Massachusetts education reformer Horace Mann in 1839, Framingham has a long-standing liberal arts tradition. With 6,400 students - about one-third less than Kutztown - Framingham was the nation's first university devoted to the education of teachers.

The town of Framingham, about 19 miles west of Boston, has a population of about 68,000. In 2012, CNN Money rated it the 36th most desirable place to live in the U.S.

In his message, Cevallos suggested his tenure at Kutztown had matured. He has spent more time leading Kutztown than the typical university president. The average tenure of a college president is seven years, according to a study by the American Council on Education.

"Institutions have life cycles, and I believe a good cycle for university presidents is about 10 years," he said. "I've been in Kutztown 11 and a half years, so the timing was right for me to start looking for the next opportunity."

He'd been a finalist for the presidency of Monmouth and Fairleigh Dickinson universities in New Jersey, but was not hired.

The hardest part of leaving Kutztown, he said, will be saying goodbye to the many great people the Cevallos family has met over the years.

"This has been our home and the place where our children, Alex and Caroline, grew up," he said. "Kutztown will always bring back warm and unforgettable memories."